catapult magazine

my flatmate just announced with great enthusiasm and display that she is giving up sugar for lent. i think the act of giving something up for lent a bit odd particularly in the case of my flatmate. she is a self-proclaimed believer in nothing, except herself, science and mankind (minor caviats). so why would she want to give something up for lent? is lent merely a pretext to make up for a lack of self-control the rest of the year mixed with severe guilt backlash? i, er, pointed this out to her in my ever tackful :D way, which for someone who claims she doesn’t offend easily she seemed … , well, it is best that she is just my flatmate for the next few months and not someone i plan to live with forever and ever.

i’m curious what other cino* folks think about people who give up something for lent but in no other way practice xnity or believe in what lent points to? do you give something up for lent or do anything behaviourally distinguishable from the rest of the year to prepare for easter? personally, i favor going through the special set of prayers for the season in my prayer book in preparation for easter; what do you do?

in fact, i happen to know quite a few protestants who in the name of jesus and an odd tradition of what is and is not "american" advocate the death penalty for minors and the mentally disabled. oh, and lets not forget the protestant groups who support, in the name of jesus, state sanctioned torture!

Now you’re confusing religious traditions with seedtime & harvest. God is the one who setup civil government to execute wrath upon evil doer (see Romans 13:4) as a deterent to keep crime in check.

Torture? Let’s see here…muzlim terrorists cut people’s heads off and all we do is play loud music, have dogs barking at them, and we don’t let them sleep….ALL in an attempt to get information that will save lives. We have every right to do this, as this is a very low level of "torture" as you call it.

Besides, whyo side are you on anyway? Like to see evil be treated properly? Read your Bible! God is known to order the destruction of those that do evil! Evil is not to be put up with, and thank God most people don’t think like you or we would all be bowing down to that demon they call allah or face getting our heads chopped off!

death penalty for minors? So, someone who is younger than 18 is supposed to be exempt from reaping what they sow? Get real! If they don’t want to do the time, then they shouldn’t do the crime. If we have no deterent, crime would be alot worse than it is now! God advocates the death penalty, and so do I!

when did practicing spiritual self-discipline become wrong?

When catholics teach that God only expects them to do this once a year, and their good to go!

someone else’s barbarism does not justify our own.

Greg, it’s so nice to finally have someone share with us exactly what God thinks. Up until you came on the scene everything was so murky but now everything is clear. Perhaps you can just tell us a little more about whom else God hates. So far we’ve got gays, Muslims, Catholics… Anybody else? It’s hard for me to know whom he hates (and whom I should hate) because I can’t see into his mind, but since you can, please tell us more. What kind of killing method does God prefer for those criminals he hates so much? I suppose it should be long and painful but I don’t know. Please do tell.

I can’t see into his mind

You should see what God says about that in 1 Corinthians 2:16 and in 1 Corinthians 2:12 just to name a couple of promises that you just said you don’t believe.

But, the Bible does teach that we should do all in the name of Jesus, so we do need to honor Him.

Many catholics drink, smoke, cuss, commit adultery as though it’s OK…because they can go down to their "father" down at their church and get forgiven.

They just don’t have good biblical teaching down there at the catholic church.
I know quite a few of them, and most have no clue that Jesus said we must be born-again to be saved…they have no clue because the priests are teaching another gospel….the gospel of catholicism, which is an un-godly cult based upon the religious traditions of men!

One could just as easily say the same thing about a number of fundamentalist sects. I believe someone has already pointed out a number of "non-Biblical" things practiced in non-Catholic churches. For instance, the fundamentalist group I was raised in also played host to a number of folks who smoked, drank, cussed and committed adultery as though it was OK…because the church told them "once saved, always saved".

Granted, if you’re looking at the name on the church door to get you into Heaven, you’re missing the point. God has his representatives in churches of all stripes. To say that because one goes to "such and such" a church, they’re off to Hell. Even you admit that when you say "most have no clue", implying that a few do.

Likewise, it is a fallacy to conclude that because someone observes Lent, that means they’re automatically trusting in empty ritual. It’s simply not a universal truth.